Review: MABURAHO

Well, for once I'm reviewing a harem manga where I understand precisely what the girls see in the lead.

It's a terrible reason, but I can comprehend it.

MABURAHO, based on the light novel series by Toshihiko Tsukiji and character designs by Eiji Komatsu, with art by Miki Miyashita.  First published in 2003 and first published in North America in 2005.

PLOT:

In a world where magic is real and where the number of spells one can cast determines everything from your social status to your lifespan, Kazuki Shikimori is an anomaly.  He only has the ability to cast seven after using one as a child to make it snow in the summer for a mystery girl.  He also comes from a long line of powerful witches and wizards, meaning that any child he could potentially father would have immense power.  That's why three girls from some of the oldest and most prestigious magic families have their eyes set on Kazuki.  It's a three-way battle between the clingy and temperamental Yuna, the stoic Rin, and the bombshell Kuriko for the rights to Kazuki and his killer DNA, and all of them are determined to win by any means possible.

 STORY:

Forgive me for borrowing a joke from Mother's Basement, but it's not everyday where the answer to "why do the girls in this harem like this total loser?" is literally "eugenics", but that is in fact the sole motivation for everything that happens in Maburaho.

It's certainly not because of Kazuki's sparkling personality.  Not only is he a total Potato-kun, but he's a whiny Potato-kun.  On the rare occasion he's allowed to speak, half of it is spent whining about his lack of magic and the other half is spouting bland affirmations to the main trio of girls.  He's such a dullard that he has to outright borrow the "mystery childhood crush" plot from Love Hina just to give him something to do other than be dragged about like a chew toy.  The most exciting thing to happen to him in this book is geting amnesia in the first chapter, and that's only so the mangaka has an cheap excuse to explain the premise to the audience.

Kazuki might be the focus of this harem, but he is not the protagonist of this tale.  That role is instead shared by Yuna, Rin, and Kuriko.  Their personalities are one-note, but it is their endless in-fighting and schemes that drive this pitiful excuse of a story forward.  There's a cruel sort of humor in the fact that for all their declarations of love, all that any of them truly want is his precious "DNA."  It's kind of funny how much this story dances around the fact that all these girls want from Kazuki is his jizz, right down to the fact that the translation has to refer to as "DNA" versus something more explicit like "seed."  You have to wonder why they even bother with all this nonsense when they could all achieve their goal with some paper cups, a nudie mag, and a spare hour.  It would certainly be a better use of time than reading this manga.

ART:

While Eiji Komatsu's character designs from the original light novels would have been pretty middling at the time and utterly dated by today's standards, they've got nothing on the hideousness of Miki Miyashita's take on them.  They are oddly proportioned with overly long legs and way too much hair.  There's an unpleasant angularity to them, as if Miyashita has never drawn a human being before.  They also struggle with clothing, as any outfit that isn't form-packed to the girls folds and moves like the characters are wearing paper sacks.  Even the fanservice looks off, which is quite a feat when this artist seems to be primarily known for eromanga.  

The thing that truly kills the art here are the eyes.  The faces themselves aren't great, as they suffer from all the usual moeblob issues of the era: eyes that are proportionally too big and widely spaced, noses that are little more than dots, and tiny, flappy mouths.  It's just that Miyashita makes it worse by not drawing pupils in those eyes.  They can manage some approximation on the color cover art, but page after page is full of characters with dull, flat, lifeless eyes.  You can't get away from it because Miyashita relies mostly on close-ups to avoid drawing (or even suggesting) backgrounds whenever possible.  It's absolutely hideous.

RATING:

Maburaho is almost magically devoid of charm, story, or beauty.  It's just an endless spiral of petty squabbling over a useless sadsack whose only good feature is his family tree, enacted by gangly, dead-eyed dolls in a void.  It's proof as to why it's not a good idea to base your manga licensing decisions entirely on your anime licensing ones.

This manga was published by ADV Manga.  This series is complete in Japan with 2 volumes available.  Both volumes were released and are currently out of print.